


People in masks

by obsidianfr3ak



Category: Renegades - Marissa Meyer
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gen, au where the renegades saved nova the night her parents died, because I say so, nova deserves to be happy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-19
Updated: 2021-01-19
Packaged: 2021-03-17 15:09:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,063
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28851120
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/obsidianfr3ak/pseuds/obsidianfr3ak
Summary: Nova's mind was so clouded she was not able to recognize him. However, when her eyes were able to adapt to this new change of light, she could see how his face filled with horror when he realized what he was seeing. First, he looked at the man's body, completely asleep. Then his gaze went to Evie's tiny, bloody body, and finally to Nova.Who had not stopped pointing him with the gun the entire time.“I'm Captain Chromium,” he replied. “Are you David Artino’s daughter?”
Relationships: Nova Artino | Nightmare & Hugh Everhart | Captain Chromium
Comments: 3
Kudos: 36





	People in masks

**Author's Note:**

> This fic was inspired by a drawing made by @lethughandsimonkiss-official. The link would be at the endnotes. Go check it out!

_Pull the trigger_

_Pull the trigger, Nova._

The pistol felt heavier and hotter in her hands. She could tell her own sweat was making it more slippery with each passing second, and even though a part of her wanted to drop it, she couldn't stop staring at the scene that was in front of her.

Because she couldn't close her eyes. Because if she did, all she would hear was the sound of the bullets that had taken her family away from her, without a single shred of remorse.

Nova knew that she would never be able to close her eyes again without reliving that moment.

_Pull the trigger._

_Pull the trigger, Nova._

She put one of her fingers from her right hand on the trigger and wiped the sweat from her forehead with her arm. The pajamas were suffocating her...

_Pull the trigger._

_Pull the trigger, Nova._

The front door of the apartment opened, but Nova didn't hear it. Of course. Right now, the only thing inside her head was _that_ voice, that she wasn't sure if it was even hers, telling Nova what she had to do.

She had him there. Completely helpless. Nova had a deadly weapon in her hands and he had nothing. 

Or maybe she was the one with nothing.

Nova was the one who no longer had a family.

She was alone until the light coming from the other room was blocked by a tall figure, and Nova pointed the gun at him.

“Oh, my stars ...”

Her voice sounded distant. “Who are you?”

The figure took a few steps forward as if it didn't matter to him that Nova was practically threatening to shoot him. He pulled the cord hanging from the ceiling and turned on the lights.

Nova's mind was so clouded she was not able to recognize him. However, when her eyes were able to adapt to this new change of light, she could see how his face filled with horror when he realized what he was seeing. 

First, he looked at the man's body, completely asleep. Then his gaze went to Evie's tiny, bloody body, and finally to Nova.

Who had not stopped pointing him with the gun the entire time.

“I'm Captain Chromium,” he replied. “Are you David Artino’s daughter?”

_Captain Chromium._

The voice talked again.

_Pull the trigger, Nova._

But that was the last time she heard it. 

Nova knew who Captain Chromium was. More or less. Her parents had mentioned him in conversations they had when it was late at night and they thought Nova wasn’t listening to them. They said that he had been kind to them. That he had listened to _papà_ . That he was the only one who had a chance to beat _him_.

Nova didn't know why (or when) he had been nice to them, or what papà had told him. She didn’t know who was that _him_ either.

But she did know he was one of them.

“You’re a renegade.”

“I am a renegade. What’s your name?”

“Nova.”

Captain Chromium walked towards her with a tight smile and stealthy steps. He crouched in front of her. “Nice to meet you, Nova—” and he held out his hand. 

At first, Nova thought it was a greeting and wasn't sure how to respond (after all, she had been told not to talk to strange men), but then, Captain Chromium asked her, “Now… would you be a dear and give me the gun?”

Without waiting for an answer, he put one of his huge hands over hers, small and cold, and Nova instinctively put the barrel of the pistol in his forehead, gasping.

But he didn't even flinch. 

“Please.”

_“Please. The girls are here. Please, have mercy on us.”_

Her fingers stopped clenching so much on the gun and her arms began to lower.

She passed him the gun. “Thank you.”

He placed it on his belt and he focused on Nova's forehead, still stained with her mother's blood.

He gently tried to wipe it with his thumb. “Are you hurt?”

Nova shook her head. “No.”

Captain Chromium pursed his lips. “We need to get you out of here.”

“What about him?”

Nova pointed her finger at the sleeping man at her feet and felt an inexplicable terror as if at any moment, he was going to wake up, snatch the gun from Captain Chromium and... just shoot him. There, in front of Nova, so that she would only suffer more before shooting her as well.

Because getting her whole family killed had not been enough.

_Bang. Her mother was dead._

_Bang. Her father._

_Bang. Evie._

_Bang. Captain Chromium._

_Bang_ . _Nova._

“You were there, weren't you?”

Nova didn't reply, but she let the trail of blood on her forehead speak for her.

Captain Chromium stood up. “Close your eyes.”

“No.”

“Why not?”

_Bang. Her mother was dead._

_Bang. Her father._

_Bang. Evie._

_Bang. Bang._

“Because every time I close them,” she whispered, “I hear the gunshots.”

“Every time?" Nova nodded and Captain Chromium looked at the man. “Well then… turn around. And cover your ears.”

Nova wondered if it was worth asking why, but she already knew that he would only answer her how his parents did: with vague words and sad smiles.

Although in those moments, she would have given anything to have an answer from them. Even if that answer was vague words and sad smiles.

Anything was better than nothing.

Nova obeyed. She turned slowly and pressed her hands against her skull. She couldn't hide the sob that came out of her mouth when she heard the gunshot, but that didn't stop her from turning around again, to be sure he had killed him.

Unfortunately, she didn't have time to look at the corpse because Captain Chromium grabbed her chin. “No, don't look at him. Don't look at him, Nova. Eyes on me. Keep your eyes on me.”

Nova tried to fixate on his gaze, but… there was something strange about his face. He was not familiar to her. He had nothing that felt like Nova’s, and everything about him was distant and strange.

The only thing was that Nova couldn’t understand why. 

Captain Chromium didn’t let go of her chin when he reached over to Evie, nor as he removed her pillow, stained with her little sister's blood, and took Dolly Bear, who was hiding under it, probably as scared as Nova.

He handed Dolly Bear to her, in an even gentler manner than Nova herself had done when she put the gun into his hands. 

Nova looked back at Captain Chromium, and, inadvertently, she compared his face to Dolly Bear's.

_That's it._

On her second try, she had no trouble finding what it was that bothered her so much about him in the first place.

“Take off your mask,” she murmured.

Captain Chromium let go of her chin. “You want me to do what?”

“Your mask,” she repeated. “Take it off.”

Captain Chromium was startled. From where she was, Nova could see him clench his fists and holding his breath for a second, before relaxing his entire body again and taking off his mask.

He looked younger without it. Probably even younger than her parents. He didn't have bags under his eyes either or a single scar on his face. 

Now, Captain Chromium appeared to be... a normal guy. Just another normal guy. 

“Now— eyes on me, okay?”

She grabbed his wrist and frowned with determination.

_Eyes on you, then._

So, Nova kept her eyes on him. She did when she passed Evie's body. She did it when she circled the corpses of her parents, and she did it when he was making sure no one was waiting for them outside, looking both ways before exiting through the backdoor of the building. 

Nova didn't have to accelerate her pace as she walked side by side with him. Even with the little light that illuminated their path, coming from the bull lights of the surrounding apartments and the moon, she could tell that his eyes were the same blue color as Nova's eyes.

Which, at the same time, were the same blue color as _papà’s_.

In fact, Captain Chromium's eyes were more similar to how Nova remembered her _papà’s_ eyes because for the second she saw him after that man shot him in the head, they had seemed completely empty of those sparks of gold that were in them, that floated like stars in the sky.

Sure, Captain Chromium’s eyes didn't have those stars; but they were blue and full of life. 

Like _papà's_. Like hers. 

She probably wouldn’t be able to notice it, if he hadn’t taken off his mask. 

“People in masks are scary.”

For the first time in all they had to meet, he smiled at her. Not like Nova had seen him smile in the newspapers or interviews. It was a different smile. More sincere. More human. 

Nova liked that smile much better than the other. 

“My husband wears a mask. He’s not scary at all.” Then, he looked up at the sky for a few moments and his smile turned into a laugh. “Sometimes.”

Nova noticed the golden ring he was wearing on his hand, covered with fingerless gloves. _Husband_.

Nova didn't understand.

Like— why would a man marry someone scary?

_Bang!_

Nova screamed and let Captain Chromium use his body to protect her while pointing the gun to where the sound had come from.

Even with her cheek against his belly, Nova didn't close her eyes, and even without closing her eyes, she didn't stop hearing the gunshots. _Bang. Bang. Ba-_

“It's okay, Nova. It was just a raccoon crashing against some trashcans—” he put a hand on her head “—You can let go of me now. ”

But Nova didn’t let go of him. And when he realized she was not going to do it, he removed his hand from her head and placed it on her back.

It was the first adult (besides her parents) who had ever done that. Not like Nova talked to a lot of adults, anyway. The only other adult figure in Nova's life was her Uncle Alec, and her Uncle Alec never touched her, not even to hold her hand. Or to hug her.

She could confirm that because, one day, Nova had actually tried to hug him. Her parents freaked out when they saw her do it though. Her mother grabbed her arm and nervously asked her to go to her room, while her _papà_ put himself in front of Uncle Alec, mumbling incoherent sentences that probably were trying to excuse his daughter’s behavior.

Nova didn’t understand why they reacted like that, but she did notice that the voice tone her parents had used to talk to the man who broke into their apartment and killed them, had been the same one they used during that particular day with her Uncle Alec.

Maybe her parents would not be so afraid of him if he had taken off his helmet. Nova knew it was not a mask, but… at the end of the day, that helmet and masks had the same function: they covered one’s face and hide their true intentions.

She wondered if her Uncle Alec was hiding his true intentions behind his helmet. She wondered if her parents knew it, and that's why they were so scared.

Because people in masks were scary. 

At least, without the masks, you could see who had cruel intentions, and protect yourself from their harm.

“He killed them.”

Captain Chromium felt to his knees, holding her tighter. She put her head on his chest, listening to his heartbeat while silent and hot tears rolled down her face.

He smoothed her hair with the hand he wasn’t using to hold the gun. 

“I know,” he mumbled. “I know, dear sweet child. But you’re safe now. I will protect you.”

Now he was the one who couldn’t look away from her. Not even when he carried her before starting to walk through the dark, and the only sound that could be heard that night was Nova’s cries.

_“When we need them— when we really need them, they’ll come, all right? They will protect us.”_

He had blood on his fingers and tears in his eyes. And Nova felt safe.

Because people without masks weren’t scary at all.

**Author's Note:**

> Link to the drawing: https:// lethughandsimonkiss-official.tumblr.com/post/640127600109453312 /au-where-hugh-saved-nova-tag-jacihayle


End file.
